Tag Archives: Simeon

What Simeon said about Easter

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When Mary and Joseph took the infant Jesus to the temple, they encountered a prophet named Simeon. We normally think of Simeon closer to Christmas. After all, that’s the season when we pay special attention to the birth of Jesus. But Simeon’s message makes sense to us only in the light of Easter.

By the Holy Spirit, Simeon knew that he held the long-awaited Messiah in his arms. He knew that this child would grow up to accomplish his mission in the face of fierce opposition. And he knew that Jesus’ ministry would inflict great sorrow on his mother. But Jesus would accomplish what God intended.… Read the rest

Ordinariness and wonder after Jesus’ birth

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In a stable in Bethlehem, Mary had a baby. She was certainly neither the first or last woman to deliver a child under less than ideal conditions. But she had an ordinary childbirth experience after an ordinary pregnancy.

She delivered no ordinary child. Mary conceived Jesus while she was still a virgin, a miracle that has happened exactly once. Angels announced Jesus’ birth to shepherds, who rushed to Bethlehem to see him.

The ordinary and the extraordinary persisted side by side throughout Jesus’ life. Luke’s gospel records both a week following his birth.

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